Summer savory plays a significant role in the food culture of Atlantic Canada. The herb is associated with holiday food and traditional meals. For example, turkey stuffing is often made with summer savory rather than sage (which is common in the rest of Canada).

Summer savory (“sarriette” in French) plays a special role in Acadian food culture. The herb is the main seasoning in fricot (rabbit or chicken stew) in Acadian communities in New Brunswick. It is also a component of the Herbes de Provence mix.

L’Ancienne d’Acadie is a Canadian variety of summer savory with a multicultural history – reflecting the various people who have lived in the region. It may have originally been brought to what is now New Brunswick by French or British settlers. Compared to modern varieties of summer savory, l’Ancienne d’Acadie is a short, stocky plant with a strong flavour.

The variety has been passed down from generation to generation. Jean Prudent Robichaud (1867-1958) received the seed from a woman from the Esgenoôpetitj First Nation at Burnt Church, NB, while he was working on Mi’kmaq farms using his draft horse. Burnt Church was a French settlement and Mi’kmaq community named for the incident in 1758 when the British burned the community’s church as part of the Acadian expulsion. Jean-Prudent’s descendants maintained the variety, which has been incorporated in the Slow Food Canada Ark of Taste.

You can learn how to grow summer savory and enjoy a delicious meal of fricot at the Albert County Museum on Saturday, July 29, 2017. All of this, including a garden tour and a lively discussion of the origins of fricot, costs just $8 with admission to the museum or a membership to the Albert County Historical Society (or $10 for others).

Please reserve tickets at the museum or by calling 734-2003 before July 26. The event starts at 11am and continues to at least 2pm. Cette démonstration est offerte en français et en anglais; this demonstration is offered in French and English.

This is part of Growing Together – a project which celebrates Canada's 150th year through food, seeds and stories! This has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

For more information about the lunch, museum garden or storytelling project, please contact Janet Wallace at garden@albertcountymuseum.com or Melody Land at 734-2003.

On Saturday, July 29, 2017, learn how to grow summer savory, make fricot (Acadian chicken stew) and enjoy a great lunch.

The cost for the lunch (including dessert, tea or coffee), a garden tour and a lively discussion of the origins of fricot, costs just $8 with admission to the museum or a membership to the Albert County Historical Society (or $10 for others).

If you’re interested in enjoying a tasty meal from local ingredients and learning about Acadian culture, please reserve tickets at the museum or by calling 734-2003 before July 26. The event starts at 11am and continues to at least 2pm. Cette démonstration est offerte en français et en anglais; this demonstration is offered in French and English.

This is part of Growing Together – a project which celebrates Canada's 150th year through food, seeds and stories! This has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

For more information about the demonstration, museum garden or storytelling project, please contact Janet Wallace at garden@albertcountymuseum.com or 734-2003.

On Canada Day, visitors to the Albert County Museum will be offered free grilled hot dogs, so we decided to explore the history of the hot dog with “all the fixings.”

The hot dog can be traced back to Europe. Germany and Austria both lay claim to the meat – Frankfurters come from Frankfurt, Germany, but wienerwurst (i.e., wieners) come from Vienna, Austria (in the German language, Vienna is called “Wien”).

The term “hot dog” is American and there are reports of frankfurters being sold on the streets of New York as early as the 1860s. The exact origins are unknown but it seems like immigrants in New York created the hot dog stand fad – possibly a Jewish immigrant from Poland named Nathan Handwerker or an African-American immigrant called Thomas Francis Xavier Morris. The key point being that the hot dog, like so many other foods, is the product of a blend of cultures.

What about the condiments?

Ketchup comes from the Far East, likely China, and was commonly consumed on long sea voyages. The first ketchup, called “ge-thcup” or “koe-cheup,” didn’t have tomatoes but was made from fermented fish entrails, miscellaneous meat byproducts and soybeans. Being fermented, the sauce stored well and spiced up the plain food of long trips at sea. The ketchup became popular along the trade routes in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the early 1700s, British explorers brought the condiment back to England.

Ketchup soon referred to a fermented sauce of any number of ingredients, including fish, nuts, peaches, oysters, elderberries, anchovies, and (you guessed it) tomatoes.

Mustard is made by crushing the seeds of the mustard plant (which is related to broccoli and cabbage) and adding wine or “must,” very young wine. The difference between grainy and smooth mustard is simply the state of the seeds – coarsely ground seeds or a combination of whole and ground seeds are used in grainy mustard; smooth mustard has finely ground grains.

The Romans used mustard as a flavouring. They planted mustard when they conquered new areas – including Gaul (now called France). The condiment was a hit –with mustard growing well in the vineyards and Dijon and other mustards were developed.

Sauerkraut was developed as a way to store cabbage during the winter. The cabbage was shredded, salt was added, and the concoction was left in a covered crock to ferment. At the Albert County Museum, we’re growing Tancook cabbage, a variety named after the Nova Scotia Island where it was commonly grown. Tancook sauerkraut was a huge export for the small island – barrels of sauerkraut were often on sailing ships. Sauerkraut contains vitamin C, and regular consumption could prevent scurvy, a hazardous dietary condition common among sailors. Read more here.

So when you bite into your hot dog, keep in mind that, as with all foods, you’re consuming history. An all-dressed hot dog is the result of long sea voyages, the tendency of people to explore new lands and conquer other nations, the need to preserve food, and the desire for street food.

Learn more about the history of food at the Albert County museum’s website. Check often as we will keep adding new stories. Better yet, visit the Albert County Museum and garden in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick.

For more information about the museum garden and storytelling project, please contact Janet Wallace (email garden@albertcountymuseum.com). “Growing Together: Seeds from the past; seeds for the future” is funded in part by the Government of Canada. Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.

At the Albert County Museum, we are reviving the perennial gardens. If you are dividing your plants this spring, we might be able to provide a home for your surplus.

In particular, we are looking for perennials with traditional uses, such as the following:

Culinary herbs (e.g., sage, oregano)

Food plants (e.g., grapes, gooseberries)

Herbs for teas and tisanes (e.g., lemon balm, peppermint, bergamot)

Medicinal herbs (e.g., Echinacea, hops)

Plants used as dyes (e.g., madder, woad)

Plants with other uses (e.g., soapwort, sweetgrass)

We are also looking for seeds, rootstock and cuttings of fruits and vegetables with a history of being grown in Albert County.

If you would like to donate any plants, please contact Janet Wallace (email garden@albertcountymuseum.com) to see if we can use the plants. Please provide labels with the plants. If you have a story behind the plants, please let us know. For example, we would love to know the history of your plant (when and where it was originally planted or found) and also how you have used it.

If you would like to volunteer to help in the garden – perhaps you want to choose a spot and plant the perennials yourself, or you might like to help out in the vegetable garden, we welcome your help.

Seeds are a connection between the past and the future. When you save seed from one crop, you anticipate planting, growing and harvesting more food in the future. But seed can be more -- it can connect us to our heritage.

The Albert County Museum is embarking on an exciting project to bring the past to life through food, seeds and stories. We will celebrate the history of Atlantic Canada while strengthening cultural bonds for the future.

Culinary traditions are an essential part of cultural heritage. Recipes and seeds have been passed down from generation to generation. We will rejuvenate and celebrate this practice while also honouring our multicultural past and future. We will plant heirloom varieties of traditional food crops at public gardens in Albert County at Riverside Consolidated School, Albert County Museum and perhaps Forest Dale Home. By linking people's stories with the plants, we will bring the heritage alive. Also, we will save the seeds from the plants and share these with gardeners in the following years. In particular, we hope to create a more vibrant garden and seed collection to celebrate Canada's 150th year in 2017.

Do you have seeds or stories to share? If so, let us know. Contact Janet Wallace by email at janetwallace @ xplornet.com or at www.JanetWallace.ca